The program, now in its third year, honors growing
businesses (five to 1,000 employees) that excel in
selecting, managing, and providing a benefits program that
ensures employees’ long-term financial security.
In particular, The Principal 10 Best winners demonstrated
innovative ways to provide affordable health-care coverage
to their employees.

“The Principal 10 Best winners have all succeeded in
building great benefit programs in ways that ultimately
boost their bottom line, while also making sure their
employees appreciate the value of those benefits,” said
Renee Schaaf, vice president at the Principal Financial
Group. “Our independent blue ribbon panel of judges was
really impressed by the winners’ commitment to superior
benefits that would compete easily against even the largest
of companies.”

The program was open to any company with between five
and 1,000 employees.
To qualify, all entrants must have been based in the United
States and have provided a broad range of employee benefits
for at least five years.
Qualifying companies must have, at a minimum, offered
“traditional” employee benefits, such as those relating to
retirement, health, life, or disability.
No entry fee was required, and employees of The Principal
were not eligible to enter.

Winning companies come from an array of industries
ranging from manufacturing to financial services; and range
in size from 15 to over 500 employees.
The Principal 10 Best Companies are:

Companies were evaluated based on benefits the judges
deemed most important in contributing to employee long-term
financial security. Those benefits included retirement
plans; strong medical coverage, including significant
premium subsidies by employers; long-term disability
options; group life insurance; accidental death and
dismemberment coverage; medical and retirement packages for
part-time employees; and effective communication methods to
help employees maximize the benefit options.

Judges selected winning companies based on the breadth
of their benefits offerings – how well they cover major
life events such as retirement and disability; and the
depth of their benefits offerings – how much the company
contributes in terms of matches or premiums.
The judges also considered the overall commitment to
employee financial security as demonstrated by how the
company aligns its benefits to the specific needs of its
employees and how the company helps employees understand
and utilize their benefits, according to the Principal.

The judges worked with Mathew Greenwald &
Associates, a market research company, to choose the
winners based on how companies select, manage, and provide
benefits and other programs that contribute to their
employees’ financial security.

A summary of best practices gleaned from the program
will be available in January 2005, and entry forms for the
2005 recognition program will be available in February
2005.
For more information, visit The Principal Web site at
www.principal.com